The Marine by Anna Leigh Keaton

TITLE: The Marine
AUTHOR: Anna Leigh Keaton
PUBLISHER: Cobblestone Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 6k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotica
COST: $2.99

The Pleasure Club satisfies sexual fantasies. Hers is to relive the last night she saw her fiancé, right before he shipped off to Iraq…

I knew I was asking for it by buying this short story. Others in this erotica series have hit certain kinks, but this one…this one made me sigh just from the short blurb. I never honestly thought it would succeed for me as an erotica piece, and in that respect, I was right. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fall for it. Oh, no, it got me exactly like I anticipated – by tearing out my heart and leaving me shredded.

Sherilyn has set it up to relive the last night she saw her fiancé William, the night he proposed. Five years after the fact, she is still grieving, and she is desperately hoping this encounter will give her the closure she needs. The man who shows up looks close enough to William to temporarily make her forget he isn’t, all the way down to how he smells. The sex that follows their dinner is hot but always, always, the melancholy is there, undercoating every kiss, every word, every breath. It’s a very good thing this story was short. Any longer, and it would have been too much to bear. As it stands, it’s just the right length to get tangled up in the web of Sherilyn’s emotions, enough to embroil me as the reader without going too far.

Because of the set-up, Sherilyn is the only who is actually real in this piece, but I must admit, I’m utterly fascinated by the potential of who William was, and who this man is who satisfied her fantasy. It’s a credit to the author to make him fulfill both roles, and leaves me hungry to try more of her work. I do actually have at least one other story on my TBR pile, and after reading and getting so involved in this, I’ll be digging that one out. Because this made me ache as the most moving stories should, transcending a simple piece of smut into something beautiful, just through the emotions.

Readability	8/10 – Melancholy and swift with a side of hot
Hero	6/10 – He’s a representative figure in this rather than a fullblown personality, but the hints of who he is representing broke my heart
Heroine	8/10 – My heart ached for her
Entertainment value	8/10 – I didn’t fall for the erotica in this. I fell for the painful emotions.
World building	7/10 – I would totally believe, even not having the details, the world in which these people live.
TOTAL:	37/50

Selkie Island by Jorrie Spencer

TITLE: Selkie Island
AUTHOR: Jorrie Spencer
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 22k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $3.50

For too many years, Morag has lived the life of a selkie, but as time passes, she spends less and less time as human. A boat approaching her island encourages her to take human shape and investigate, but when she discovers the injured man it carries is the only man she’s ever loved, she does everything she can to nurse him back to health. Clay has escaped to Selkie Island to hide, because it’s a place he holds dear to his heart, the place he had his first love affair. He doesn’t expect to find Morag again on it, though, and he certainly doesn’t expect her to look the same as she did when he’s nine years older…

NOTE: This is a review originally written for Uniquely Pleasurable.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a fan of water-based shapeshifting stories. Nine times out of ten, I’ll see something aquatic in the blurb and completely pass it on by. But I stopped on this one for two reasons. One, I like this author. I’ve read a number of her stories, both het and gay, and while I might not have loved everything I read, I’ve certainly learned that this is an author that deserves my closer attention. Second, I love this cover. Love it. So, so, so much. I don’t buy books for the cover art – I spend far too much money on books as it is to add those kind of impulse buys to the cart – but good art will make me look twice, even if it’s a subject matter I might not necessarily want to read.

In this case, I’m oh so glad I took the time.

I think this could very well be my favorite work by this author. It is gentle, tender, and evocative, without treading in maudlin territory or destroying character credibility. Morag has spent years in this sort of half-life and though it saved her initially, over time, it has slowly destroyed her in other ways. She’s desperately lonely, something she notices more and more whenever she takes human form. It doesn’t get in the way of her being productive or throwing all her energy into being with Clay when he arrives, though, which is a tribute to her strength of character and the depth of her feelings for the man. Her innocence with the world, since she doesn’t leave the island, is a fascinating juxtaposition to her weariness of it.

Clay has the same effect on me. He’s been shot and is on the run from his boss, so he’s far more worldly than Morag, and yet, when these two are together, he regains an innocence he’s long since lost. His reactions when he starts questioning how it’s possible for Morag to still look the same are grounded in reality as well, without ever sliding into an extreme that would turn the story into melodrama. His feelings for her, and his need for sanctuary, temper what might otherwise be an instinct to run, creating an atmosphere of trust that coaxes the reader to believe as well.

There is some great atmosphere surrounding the island and its isolation, perhaps less so of Clay’s world. The focus on Selkie Island encourages the sense of fantasy prevalent in Morag and Clay’s relationship, giving them a haven to rediscover each other while never truly forgetting the other world that lies beyond. It makes it impossible not to be emotionally invested when the climax comes, and inevitable that this will rate as one of my favorite love stories for a very long time.

Readability	9/10 – Gentle and evocative
Hero	9/10 – Understandably reticent, but true to the core
Heroine	9/10 – Her melancholy and loneliness are tangible
Entertainment value	9/10 – Tugs so hard at heart strings that I still get choked up on re-reads
World building	8/10 – Great atmosphere and some lovely history of the island, but Clay’s background is understandably not as detailed
TOTAL:	44/50

Last Wish for a Dying Man by Gabriel Daemon

TITLE: Last Wish for a Dying Man
AUTHOR: Gabriel Daemon
PUBLISHER: eXcessica
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 15k)
GENRE: Mainstream drama
COST: $3.99

James Mailer has been granted his Last Wish, thirty days to live as a free man in exchange for giving up a life sentence behind bars and all rights to an appeal. After thirty days, he dies…

I find this author fascinating. The juxtaposition of a certain fatalism with hope within his characters lends a melancholy to his work that makes me respond intensely when the story is done well. I had incredibly strong reactions to two of his shorts in the anthology I read earlier this year, and this one most definitely falls in their league.

James has been convicted of killing his wife and her lover, and rather than spend his life behind bars, asks for the Last Wish. This grants the criminal thirty days to live as a free man (with some restrictions, since the police don’t want more crimes on their hands) with the understanding that he will die in some way when those thirty days are up. When the judge asks James why he’d choose to end his life now rather than potentially live another fifty years, he says simply, “I deserve it.” And means it. That demonstrates the level of guilt he feels regarding his crimes, and starts the path he takes over the course of this short story.

James chooses to spend his last month alive at his dead grandfather’s fishing cabin, a place he associates with peace and happiness. He just wants to be alone, but a female neighbor named Megan soon makes her presence known, and the two begin a friendship. Through their interactions, we learn more about James, his feelings about what happened, and how he deals with his guilt. It’s poignant without ever lapsing into melodrama, uplifting without ever getting sappy, and indicative of what short stories should really do. There is some mild graphic detail of what James did to deserve his punishment, but I was left with more questions than answers, and actually wished I’d gotten them.

Megan is a little more of an enigma than James, but then again, this isn’t about her. Still, I found their relationship believable and invested in what she gave to James in his last days. Their sex does get described in erotic detail, but it’s never overdone or overwhelming to the story’s emotional thrust. In fact, the only thing that really throws me in this – other than the ending which didn’t end up surprising me as much as the author probably would have wanted – is the few places where POV gets a little fluid. The bulk of this story is told in James’ 3^rd person perspective, but every once in a while, it slides into Megan’s for a sentence or two. It’s distracting and weakens it overall.

Not nearly enough for me not to enjoy it, though. And hardly matters at all when considering buying more of this author’s work, because I most definitely will.

Readability	8/10 – Though POV slips every one in a while to slow me down, it’s otherwise a swift, smooth read
Characterization	9/10 – I believed in both leads, though I had even more questions about them at the end
Plot	8/10 – Trusting characterization made it easier to get embroiled in the journey they took
Entertainment value	8/10 – I love the quietness of the emotional evolution contrasted with the violent circumstances that brought them there
World building	8/10 – The cabin milieu is strongest by far, but then again, it’s meant to be
TOTAL:	41/50

Starting Over by Annmarie McKenna

TITLE: Starting Over
AUTHOR: Annmarie McKenna
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Contemporary gay menage erotic romance
COST: $4.99

A hit and run accident puts Aaron Gardner in the hospital with multiple injuries, including a fractured leg, concussion, and a dislocated shoulder. He’s surprised when he wakes up to discover that the cop who witnessed it, who provided an anchor for him while EMTs arrived, is still at his bedside, and even more so when one of his doctors is the cop’s lover. Dane and Garrett are both taken in by the damaged Aaron, and when they learn he has nobody local to help him out, they offer to let him stay with them. What they don’t tell him right away is that they’re hoping he’ll become the third that completes their relationship…

Though this is my first review of this author for my blog, it’s not the first time I’ve read her. However, those were het paranormal stories, read before I started posting reviews online, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to get when I picked up this gay ménage. I’d liked her voice in the past, and while she’s still highly readable, I had too many problems with this to really enjoy it.

The biggest stems in my inability to resolve what is clearly meant to be a story of contemporary realism with an element that requires my complete suspension of disbelief. Aaron is hurt badly in the car accident. He is constantly hopped up on morphine to deal with the pain. Yet, even in the hospital, he’s getting a hard-on for Garrett and Dane, and within just a few weeks, indulging in sex. Not only should it be physically painful for him to do so, but morphine inhibits erections. They make it very clear that they are keeping him on a regular schedule of painkillers, so I just can’t settle it in my head without requiring a massive suspension of disbelief. It might have been possible, but the author is very clear to give Aaron valid reasons to be reluctant to enter into a relationship with Garrett and Dane. He’s in a grieving process, and has been for two years. He’s still so damaged from his lover’s accidental death that he still has panic attacks just thinking about the related causes. This is heavy duty drama. This in no way encourages me to pretend it’s a fantasy world where a guy on a bike getting slammed into by a Mustang going 65 mph can become a walking hard-on the next day.

Therein lies my other primary problem. Aaron is damaged, both physically and emotionally. Yet, he overcomes both obstacles without the attention the story suggests they deserve. This dichotomy of serious drama/too easy answers never sat well with me, and though I could smile at her charming – though too perfect – Garrett and Dane, and I could feel bad for Aaron’s plight, I was never able to believe any of them or the romance and emotions they professed. Even the mild D/s elements, sexy though they may be, did nothing to add to it. A real miss for me.

Readability	8/10 – Humorous and readable, which made for a quick read, but lacks any kind of depth
Menage	4/10 – I had difficulties believing both the speed at which Aaron was able to be interested in sex again and the quickness he was able to throw over his grief
Characterization	5/10 – Though the three have promise, I never believed them
Entertainment value	5/10 – The story is very readable, but since I could never buy into the romance or believe the characters, I couldn’t care much
World building	5/10 – In spite of some verisimilitude regarding the settings, I can’t give a high score to a story striving for contemporary realism with Aaron’s grief and pain when it ignores both medical reasons and depth of exploration
TOTAL:	27/50

ParaMatch.com by MK Mancos

TITLE: ParaMatch.com
AUTHOR: MK Mancos
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $3.50

Lucilla Wainwright doesn’t have the chops to make it as a witch, even with her illustrious bloodline, but what she does have is an uncanny knack to match people up romantically. Her business, ParaMatch.com, offers dating services to a wide variety of paranormal species, though not all of her clients are necessarily welcome ones. One Jager Cronus, the deposed leader of the Titans, has turned down every match she’s made for him so far. His latest disaster has brought him back into her office, but when she tries to set him up with a selkie, he puts a condition on it – he’ll try two more of her hook-ups if she’ll agree to be his date for the Legion Halloween Dance…

I have to admit, I looked right past this when it first came out. It’s tough for me to take risks on romantic comedy as humor can be so selective, especially in print. But after reading this author’s longer work, Scythe, and laughing at that, I went to her backlist and decided to give this one a go (along with one other that is still sitting on my TBR pile). While I can’t say that I enjoyed this as much as I liked Scythe, I’m convinced that I’ve managed to find another author whose humor meshes with mine.

The set-up for this short novella is pure fun. Lucilla sucks as a witch. She’s failed brilliantly at almost everything she’s tried, but she’s finally found her niche as a matchmaker for those with “paranormaladies.” She doesn’t rely on the computer matching people up. She goes over each application on her own, and formulates a choice based on both the numbers and her intuition. When Jager Cronus first came in, she was overwhelmed by her physical attraction to him, but sublimated it, partially because he was a client, partially because the witches and Titans have been rivals for centuries. His ultimatum after screwing up so many dates takes her aback, though privately, the prospect excites her. We then get Jager’s other two dates, Lucilla getting set up on a date by her aunt, and the political relationship of Jager’s ex in the grand scheme of things.

That’s a lot for a very short novella.

Did it work? To some degree. I laughed with the dating stuff, though Aramis, Lucilla’s blind date, always felt extraneous to me. So did the subplot regarding the tensions between the witches and the Titans. I can see its purpose, in making it easier for the witches to accept Jager, but the story’s brevity prevents it from having any sort of depth or impact. I would have much preferred leaving it off and having more time smoothing out and deepening the turnaround in Lucilla’s feelings for Jager.

Still, it’s all good fun, and a pleasant diversion on a dreary storm-filled day. I really wish there was more to this world. I think there’s some great enjoyment to be had in it, with the luxury of a full-length novel.

Readability	8/10 – Funny, bordering on farcical
Hero	7/10 – Solid repentant alpha, always good fun
Heroine	7/10 – I didn’t believe the emotional turnaround, but she’s fun and flawed, which is a great combo
Entertainment value	7/10 – Enjoyed it for the fun, not as much for the romance
World building	8/10 – Some great ideas here, I would have loved to see it expanded
TOTAL:	37/50

Don't Look Back by Josh Lanyon

TITLE: Don’t Look Back
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 34k)
GENRE: Gay suspense erotic romance
COST: $4.99

A brutal attack puts Peter Killian in the hospital, but when he wakes up to a cop sitting at his bedside, and questions about his potential involvement in a major theft at the museum he runs, Peter is left without answers. Literally. His memory surrounding the events and portions of his past is completely gone, but as he struggles to return to his life, Detective Michael Griffin is there everywhere he turns around. The screws are tightening, evidence piling up that Peter really is involved, and he races to uncover the truth, and hopefully his memory along with it…

I find myself walking a fine line when it comes to amnesia stories. Some of my favorite stories have started in the same manner as this one, with the protagonist waking in a hospital with amnesia (like Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber). It’s an excellent device to immediately put the reader in the main character’s shoes. You learn the story and history at the same time he/she does. However, I’ve also discovered that to enjoy it the most, the execution requires a delicate touch. Often times, the plot device can become an easy excuse or provide a crutch when the story or characterization falters. Don’t Look Back borders on that edge for me.

Peter is not quite a blank slate when he wakes up, but he’s certainly fragile and lost enough to garner immediate sympathy. He’s thrust into the center of all these incidents, with little clue how to get himself out of them, and eventually only makes his situation worse as he tries. I liked Peter, though in all honesty, I found him quite bland for the first two-thirds of the story. The blank slate he’d been given, with a life he wasn’t sure he liked, was a little too blank for me, and I found the people surrounding him a lot more colorful and interesting for the most part. His friends Roma and Jessica leap off the page when he blends into the woodwork, and Griffin has complexities from the start that intrigue me more than Peter ever did. When I finally did start learning more about Peter and his past, I found that I didn’t really like him very much. I don’t want to spoil the story. Suffice it to say, I found a lot of his previous actions and motivations too wishy-washy for me to really root for.

Griffin, on the other hand, presents as the other enigma to decipher, though I guessed the full story about him nearly from his introduction. That was part of one of the reasons I can’t love this particular novella. The suspense and mystery never succeeded for me as so much of it felt telegraphed from the start. Even the climax felt rushed and convenient, though to be fair, since so much of this story is about Peter and his search for self, the suspense aspect takes a back seat.

It’s certainly not a bad story. Lanyon is too skilled a storyteller for that to happen. His prose, as always, is thoroughly readable and engaging, with just enough clarity of detail to make descriptions crackle. But it failed to reach that something special status that so many other Lanyon stories have for me. I think it felt…safe. In a story meant to keep the protagonist and me as the reader on edge, that’s not necessarily the best thing.

Readability	9/10 – Lanyon’s very readable prose makes it a swift and easy read
Hero #1	7/10 – The amnesia felt like a too easy excuse that kept the character a little bland for me until close to the end
Hero #2	7/10 – Harder to get a finger on, though I actually liked him more than I liked the protagonist
Entertainment value	7/10 – Solid entertainment, but I saw most of the surprises coming from almost the beginning
World building	8/10 – Credible and realistic
TOTAL:	38/50

All In by Kate Willoughby

TITLE: All In
AUTHOR: Kate Willoughby
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 26k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Mariah Hughes just got a wish granted. Literally. On a weekend cruise with her girlfriends the year before, they bought bracelets from a street vendor, got drunk, and made some outlandish wishes for men. Mariah’s involved the poker player she’d had a one-night stand with six years earlier, a certain I.C. Tucker who has fueled her fantasies ever since. Now she has two days with the man of her dreams…

This short novella – paranormal only in the sense of wishes getting granted, hot contemporary in every other sense – is frothy, frolicking fun, in both the steamy sense and the laughing out loud sense. I think it’s official. My sense of humor seems to mesh perfectly with this author’s, because just like in the first story of hers that I read, I was laughing and smiling throughout the whole thing.

Mariah owns a chocolate shop, making both candies and cakes for special order as well as selling them over the counter. She’s been fantasizing about her one-night stand with Tucker for six years, but when she learns that her wish has been granted, she can’t even remember what it was that she’d wished for until she calls a girlfriend for a reminder. Tucker comes back into her life when she is hired to do the wedding cake for his best friend, and from the second they see each other, sparks fly again. Both Mariah and Tucker are smart, capable adults, who have no problems jumping in where they left off. Their chemistry tingles from the start, and it’s very easy to understand what each sees in the other. Tucker is charming and sweet, without being big-headed about who he is or how much money he earns as a world class poker player, while Mariah offers a sensible balance to the superficial circles he’s forced to travel in.

Therein lies the real charm of this novella. Within the magic that brings these two together is a true grounding in reality. Mariah and Tucker sound like real people, react like real people, and become real people very early on. It’s incredibly easy to fall for their heat and emotions when they seem like a couple I might encounter in real life. That’s due to the naturalism of the dialogue and the ease at which the author puts the reader. I’m so looking forward to reading more from Ms. Willoughby. I expect to see her on my end of year best lists in just a few months.

Readability	9/10 – Funny and frothy
Hero	8/10 – Sweet, charming, and desirable
Heroine	8/10 – Wonderfully grounded without losing the fun
Entertainment value	8/10 – It’s always a joy to genuinely laugh out loud during a story
World building	8/10 – Very credible contemporary settings
TOTAL:	41/50

Billy Bong by Yeva Wiest

TITLE: Billy Bong
AUTHOR: Yeva Wiest
PUBLISHER: Lyrical Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 24k)
GENRE: Horror satire
COST: $3.50

A decades-old murder. An aging killer with a twisted sense of vengeance. Oh, don’t forget the hoodoo man, two grave robbers, a senior citizen hairdresser and her seventy-six-year-old client determined to solve the riddle of her son’s death, Betsy Wetsy, and a skull called Billy Bong…

Few authors create such whacked out, unique, colorful characters like Yeva Wiest. Sometimes, she reminds me of Carl Hiaasen, the zany plots and bright casts he always manages to come up with. Even when the humor might not necessarily work for me, her characters are never dull and always unusual.

This novella starts out in 1970, with Billy Boone getting high in a motel room with a prostitute he’s picked up. Their “date” turns sour quickly, and he ends up dead. His biological parents never learn the truth until decades later, when the prostitute who killed Billy gets mad at him all over again and hires two men to steal his head for her so she can get a bong made out of the skull. Yes, you read that right. And the story only gets crazier from there, zigging and zagging from character to character until they inevitably crash together at the end.

To try and describe all the characters would take the joy out of reading it. As always, they are a cast that runs the sexual gamut – lesbians, married men, straight men, cross-dressing men, straight women, you name it. Several shine, like Janice and Sarah Beth. In 1970, Janice had stolen Sarah Beth’s husband from her, but once she realized the only thing he had going for him was his cock, she dumped him. Sarah Beth in turn decided not to hold it against Janice because a good hairdresser is always hard to find, and the two women have been friends ever since. They’re the ones who hop a bus to Houston to try and find out what happened to Sarah Beth’s son (Janice’s stepson), and their antics drive the plot forward, even when it lurches into creepy territory with the killer.

Did I laugh at the story? No, not really, but I did smile, and when it was done, I had vivid impressions of each and every single one of the characters. One thing to note, too. I’ve read and reviewed two other releases by this author from this particular publisher, and had issues with them editorially. That was not the case in this one. There is still some headhopping, and there are still occasional errors, but nothing nearly as detrimental to the reading experience as before. It’s wonderful to see. It makes it so much easier to enjoy the author’s creative imaginings when I don’t get tripped up on spelling mistakes.

Readability	8/10 – Swift and graphic, and far fewer editorial mistakes as previous works
Characterization	8/10 – This author creates some of the quirkiest characters out there
Plot	7/10 – Points for originality, though some of the coincidences seemed extreme
Entertainment value	7/10 – Not as funny as I expected, but always interesting
World building	8/10 – Unique and immersive
TOTAL:	38/50

That Wyoming Wind by Jo Barrett

TITLE: That Wyoming Wind
AUTHOR: Jo Barrett
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 25k)
GENRE: Time travel romance
COST: $3.50

Life couldn’t get any worse for Jodi Parker…until she gets picked up by a freak dust devil and dropped in the middle of 1907. She gets taken in by Maggie, a friendly nearby rancher, but being the new woman in a small Western town means all the single men are now looking in her direction, including one sexy ranch hand named Dan…

This sweet romance offers momentary escapism, based on charming characters that never place heavy demands on the reader. Jodi has had her life ripped out from underneath her by an awful ex-boyfriend, leaving her broke and looking for a new start when the dust devil steals her from the present day and drops her on her butt – literally – in 1907 Wyoming. She has absolutely no reason not to embrace her new life once she’s past the shock of being in the past, and with every single male in a twenty-mile radius sniffing after her, including two of the area’s most eligible bachelors, it seems like a situation too good to be true. It is, a little bit, but as long as you’re willing to accept the complete fantasy of her new life, it’s not necessarily a bad one.

Jodi is strong and resourceful, declaring her independence in a world filled with women who only want to snag a husband and then keep him. She’s helped by being found by the other independent woman in the area – a too convenient device – and that difference supposedly makes her even more attractive to all the men. Dan, the ranch hand, especially seems to respond to her attitude, though I never really understood why he was so determined to take her to wife except that he was incredibly attracted to her physically. There’s a vague attempt at a triangle, but Jodi never expresses anything more than surprised delight at Wayne’s interest. The romance for Wayne, in fact, seems convenient and far too easily resolved.

Editorial issues hold back what should have been an easy read. Coral gets mistaken for corral more than once, along with other minor issues. The author’s predilection for headhopping is minimal, thankfully. If it had been worse, it would have been harder to get through, due to the other errors. There is a loose – very, very loose – link to the author’s Challenge books, but those are absolutely not necessary to read this. If you’re in the mood for something sweet and completely unchallenging, this could fit the bill.

Readability	7/10 – Minor editorial issues slow down an otherwise easy read
Hero	5/10 – He’s charming enough, but there’s just not enough there to give him any depth
Heroine	6/10 – Resourceful and strong, albeit a little flat
Entertainment value	6/10 – It’s a sweet romance that begged for more than it got
World building	7/10 – A feel for early 20th century Wyoming, but nothing overwhelming
TOTAL:	31/50

Boys of Summer by Cooper Davis

TITLE: Boys of Summer
AUTHOR: Cooper Davis
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $3.50

Hunter Willis is on the brink of discovering the depth of his feelings for his secret lover, and coming out in order to keep him…

NOTE: This is a review originally written for Uniquely Pleasurable.

There is something inherently sweet in this short novella, an appealing innocence that surprised me at how effectively it conjured up emotions. Hunter Willis is a carpenter, a blue collar guy’s guy who has always considered himself straight as an arrow. Through a girl he is dating, he meets Max, a gorgeous stock trader, and his world is immediately turned on its axis. This is all backstory to the events of the novella, however. When this opens, Max and Hunter have already been sexually involved in secret for a little while, with Hunter sneaking out of Max’s apartment every morning before sunrise in order to keep up the façade. They are on vacation in Florida, just to get away, and Hunter is debating fully committing to Max. That will mean coming out, being a couple in public as well as private, and Hunter wavers on just whether or not he can do it.

The story is not only told in 1^st person from Hunter’s perspective, but also present tense, an unusual choice for the m/m market. Surprisingly, it really works to the story’s advantage. It lends an urgency to Hunter’s emotions that might not be there if it was told in past tense. I got swept up into his anxiety, his lust, and his love, as he battled for control over his feelings. He’s very likable, and more importantly, relatable, as he struggles to figure out if he has the fortitude to be with Max in public. Max’s personality is far more flirtatious and confident, at least as it’s seen through Hunter’s eyes which in all fairness are very rose-colored. It makes it easy to discern the characterizations and appreciate each man for his individuality.

What holds me back a little from absolutely loving the story, however, is how it all feels very feminine. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why. The prose is elegant, albeit a tad on the terse side, and I never feel slapped in the face with the thought, “Boy, do they act like a bunch of girls.” Yet, when the story was over, that sense lingered. I wonder if it has to do with how romantic the entire thing feels. There is no external conflict. This is all about Hunter coming to grip with his feelings and then acting on them, and those are written convincingly. Add in the fact that overthinking emotional commitments tends to be a feminine trait, and I think I might start understanding why I reacted like that. It doesn’t make it a bad story, not in the slightest. I really liked both men, even though Hunter is far more fully realized than Max due to the choice of perspective. No, it’s very much a sweet romance, finding its mark straight to the heart.

Readability	9/10 – Sweet, urgent, and highly romantic
Hero #1	7/10 – Likable in his uncertainty, easy to get swept up into his angst
Hero #2	7/10 – Likable for different reasons, though I kept wanting more
Entertainment value	8/10 – I got swept up in the urgency of the highly romantic presentation
World building	5/10 – The focus is on the emotions, not the environment
TOTAL:	36/50

Samburu Hills by Jennifer Mueller

TITLE: Samburu Hills
AUTHOR: Jennifer Mueller
PUBLISHER: Red Rose Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 24k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $2.99

As a gamekeeper’s daughter, Celeste Reed has little hope for a future outside of servitude, so when an arrangement of marriage comes from the ninth son of the Marquardt estate, she goes along with it willingly, even though it means relocating to Kenya. Her husband is nothing she had hoped for, and Africa intimidating, but rallying her strong nature and resourcefulness, she makes the most of it…even when she is widowed with a baby only a year later…

When there are so many romances out there, finding something unusual in a blurb almost always makes me pause. Though this short novella is a reprint, I hadn’t seen it when it first came out and so was struck by the promise of an African setting. There just aren’t that many out there, and even fewer that are historical. According to the author’s bio, she actually resided in Kenya as a Peace Corps volunteer, and that immediate knowledge of the country shines through in her work. The setting is vivid and lush, with enough details to make it come to life, but not so many to bog it down.

Unfortunately, that’s the best part about this story. The author’s voice tends to be a tad terse, with most of the novella told in very short scenes and short letters to England that seem to skim over any emotional depth. It left me rather detached from the events of the story, and while I appreciated intellectually that the heroine was a smart, practical, resourceful woman, I wasn’t captivated by her trials and tribulations. In fact, the first two-thirds of the book reminds me of a travelogue rather than a fictional narrative. I actually wondered if it was a romance at all, since the hero doesn’t even get introduced until halfway through. Because he enters the story so late in the game, I’m left wishing I’d had more time to get to know him. He’s charming for the brief amount of time he’s given, but this is clearly Celeste’s story. The role he plays is more in conjunction with how he helps her evolve, rather than as a fully realized character in his own right.

Like I mentioned, Celeste is a strong heroine, who makes the most of a bad situation without ever seeming less than feminine. But I would debate that this is a romance of boy meets girl. This is a love story between a woman and her environment. I don’t think this author’s voice is really my thing (unless this novella isn’t illustrative of her normal style), but I do respect her obvious love for her setting. Readers in search of something off the beaten path might be interested in checking this out.

Readability	7/10 – Clean and efficient, though outside of the setting, not very inspiring
Hero	6/10 – I liked him a lot, I just wished there was more
Heroine	7/10 – Practical and intelligent, though the distance in the prose made it hard for me to appreciate her on an emotional level
Entertainment value	6/10 – Though I enjoyed the interesting and well realized locale, I never really engaged with the heroine, who comprises far too much of the story on her own.
World building	8/10 – The setting is vivid and lush, the story’s single best asset
TOTAL:	34/50

From the Ruins by Bronwyn Green

TITLE: From the Ruins
AUTHOR: Bronwyn Green
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: £1.69

Moira Boulton is charmed by the American soldier David Webber at the USO dance hall, but the passion they share might not be enough to survive his getting shipped off to France…

I read this author in an anthology recently and absolutely adored her story so much, I went in search of her backlist to see what else looked interesting. Color me surprised when I realized I’d already bought this short story back in May. That just gives you an idea of how insane my TBR list is. So I pulled out this short WWII erotic romance, hoping for more of the magic I found in the first work I’d read by this author. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with the story. It delivers what it promises – two characters with a so-called fated connection, they have a moment, they get separated by the war, then happy ever after. It just doesn’t do it very memorably. David is charming enough, but there’s not much depth as to why he’s so convinced Moira is the woman he’ll marry, other than he knows. Moira doesn’t even get the benefit of that. All she does is play the role of the independent woman who then waits for her soldier to come home. Much of the story is devoted to the two of them having sex, actually, and though it does the job, nothing really makes it stand out from a lot of the other erotic romances out there.

In spite of my rather meh feelings about this short story, I’m still excited about reading other work by this author. There’s enough ability there to prove she knows how to serve a story’s purpose.

Readability	8/10 – Clean and unassuming, with mild headhopping
Hero	6/10 – Charming, but there’s just not enough there to get any depths
Heroine	5/10 – Sweet, but suffers from the length as much as the hero does
Entertainment value	5/10 – An erotic morsel, though not much to make it unique
World building	7/10 – A flavor of WWII Wales, satisfying for what it is
TOTAL:	31/50

Twelve Days of Bliss by Monica Robinson

TITLE: Twelve Days of Bliss
AUTHOR: Monica Robinson
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 63k)
GENRE: Contemporary romance
COST: $4.50

Angel Parker hates Christmas. She does not, however, hate her boss, Brian Maxwell, the owner of Maxwell’s Department Store. He might drive her crazy with his grumpy ways and inability to remember her name, but he also drives her crazy in other ways – namely, with lust. When she confesses her fantasy to her best friend about having a no-strings, twelve-day Christmas fling with her boss, Brian overhears, and sees this as the perfect opportunity to indulge in his own attraction to his gorgeous assistant…

There are a lot of interesting elements going for this holiday romance, some of which work, others not quite as well. One of the strongest is the author’s creation of two Scrooges as her leads, two likable, engaging characters who absolutely – and with valid reason – loathe the Christmas season. Typical holiday fare has either the hero or heroine overcoming the antipathy of the other, but this elects a different route. Here, the reader gets two characters who actually embrace their Scrooge-ness, at least initially. It made for a refreshing change, and helps from the start to build a rapport with both Angel and Brian, when their individual perfection might otherwise grate as too cloying.

Such strong, pleasant leads sustain the story when other elements aren’t quite as developed. Probably the most awkward is the fact that the very set-up of the story would suggest an erotic romance, and yet, with the exception of a couple short, explicit scenes, it’s actually fairly chaste. The whole point of the set-up is for these two to have great sex for twelve days, and yet, those scenes are greatly outweighed by more traditional romance elements. The balance never really felt right for me (even though the scene of Angel and Brian trying on costumes at a sex store on their first date was hotter than a lot of scenes I’ve read in actual erotic romances). I kept wanting it to commit to being either one or the other. That slight unsettlement made it hard to fully invest in the budding romance, in spite of how much I liked the two leads.

The other aspect that held me back from falling in love with the romance was how convenient and easy certain plot developments were. While I loved that both characters were rather no-nonsense – meaning, they didn’t dither around with making choices or feeling insecure, and instead acted when they made a decision – some of the external developments would get introduced and then not really go anywhere. For instance, Lyle, an elderly vice president on the verge of retiring, is clearly meant to add an element of conflict. Yet, when he extends an ultimatum, nothing actually happens from it. The same holds true with the introduction of Brian’s venomous ex-wife. She’s there, she threatens their happiness, and…nothing. I’m willing to excuse it because it is a holiday story, and I do really like both the leads, but in the end, it makes this just a pleasant story, rather than a great one.

Readability	8/10 – Solid and engaging
Hero	8/10 – Strong, honorable, and hard-working
Heroine	8/10 – Strong, honorable, and hard-working
Entertainment value	7/10 – Aspects of it seemed too convenient/too easy for me to be as invested in the romance as I should have been
World building	7/10 – Strong for what it was
TOTAL:	38/50